PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder): PTSD results from a person who experiences a traumatic event and though there is no cure, treatments are available to prevent and relieve the factors of the disorder.
What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?
PTSD is type of anxiety disorder and emotional illness. It can occur after you've seen or experienced a traumatic event that involved the threat of injury or death. It usually develops as a result of a terribly frightening, life-threatening, or otherwise high unsafe experience.
What was it called before?
Shell-Shock
Battle/Combat Fatigue
Soldier's Heart
Gross Stress Reaction
Post-Vietnam Syndrome
~Different Types of PTSD
Reliving the event (“Re-experiencing”)
Avoidance
Hyperarousal
~How long does it take to present itself?
The symptoms of PTSD can start immediately or after a delay of weeks or months. They usually appear within 6 months of the traumatic event.
Causes and Factors of PTSD
PTSD can occur at any age. It can follow a natural disaster such as a flood or fire, or events such as:
Assault
Domestic abuse
Prison stay
Rape
Terrorism
War
For example, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 may have caused PTSD in some people who were involved, in people who saw the disaster, and in people who lost relatives and friends.
Veterans returning home from a war often have PTSD.
The cause of PTSD is unknown. Psychological, genetic, physical, and social factors are involved. PTSD changes the body's response to stress. It affects the stress hormones and chemicals that carry information between the nerves
It is not known why traumatic events cause PTSD in some people but not others. Having a history of trauma may increase your risk for getting PTSD after a recent traumatic event.
Check the symptoms below that you experience. Include symptoms you have even if you are not sure they are related to a traumatic event.
I experienced or witnessed a traumatic event during which I felt extreme fear, helplessness, or horror.
The event happened on (day/month/year) _.
What happened? __.
I have symptoms of re-experiencing or reliving the traumatic event:
Have bad dreams or nightmares about the event or something similar to it
Behave or feel as if the event were happening all over again (this is known as having flashbacks)
Have a lot of strong or intense feelings when I am reminded of the event
Have a lot of physical sensations when I am reminded of the event (for example, my heart races or pounds, I sweat, find it hard to breathe, feel faint, feel like I'm going to lose control)
I have symptoms of avoiding reminders of the traumatic event:
Avoid thoughts, feelings, or talking about things that remind me of the event
Avoid people, places, or activities that remind me of the event
Have trouble remembering some important part of the event
I have noticed these symptoms since the event happened:
Have lost interest in, or just don't do, things that used to be important to me
Feel detached from people; find it hard to trust people
Feel emotionally "numb" or find it hard to have loving feelings even toward those who are emotionally close to me
Have a hard time falling or staying asleep
Am irritable and have problems with my anger
Have a hard time focusing or concentrating
Think I may not live very long and feel there's no point in planning for the future
During WWI doctors called PTSD "shell shock" because they believed that soldiers were showing these symptoms as a result of exploding bombs. Many soldiers were ridiculed and called weak or cowards when they showed symptoms of PTSD. Some were even put on trial, charged and convicted of cowardice. The worst results were those shot by their own men because they thought they were cowards. When doctors saw that soldiers were suffering PTSD that had not been on the front lines, they realized it could not have been caused by exploding bombs. Doctors than tried hypnosis in order to cure PTSD.
In order to cure PTSD, a person must remember the feelings they had during the dramatic event and learn to accept them. Usually seeing a therapist helps to accept the feelings. Anti-depressant pills can be taken in order to help people feel less sad, however this will not cure the PTSD. There is no pill cure for PTSD. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ5v4YYafL4
~Treating PTSD (4 examples)
Traumafocused cognitive-behavioral therapy- carefully and gradually “exposing” yourself to thoughts, feelings, and situations that remind you of the trauma. Therapy also involves identifying upsetting thoughts about the traumatic event–particularly thoughts that are distorted and irrational—and replacing them with more balanced picture.
Family therapy- can help your loved ones understand what you’re going through. It can also help everyone in the family communicate better and work through relationship problems caused by PTSD symptoms.
Medication- Antidepresents such as Prozac and Zoloft are the medications most commonly used for PTSD. While antidepresents may help you feel less sad, worried, or on edge, they do not treat the causes of PTSD.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)- Eye movements and other bilateral forms of stimulation are thought to work by “unfreezing” the brain’s information processing system, which is interrupted in times of extreme stress.
~Medication for PTSD (Government Approved)
Sertraline (Zoloft)
Paroxetine (Paxil)
Fluoxetine (Prozac)
*Medications help a person regulate the responses of PTSD.
~Usage of Each Medicine
Sertraline (Zoloft) 50 mg to 200 mg daily
Paroxetine (Paxil) 20 to 60 mg daily
Fluoxetine (Prozac) 20 mg to 60 mg daily
New Information/Research on PTSD:
A lot done in past 10 years
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Scientists and researchers are looking for ways to prevent PTSD resulting from mental and physical findings
New medicines are being tested that could affect the most basic causes
Research done to specify the factors of PTSD to personalize treatments
Scientists are looking at the genes that create "fear memories," which can lead to advances in the prevention and treatment using
1700s: Dominique Jean Larrey describes the disorder as having three stages
1855: Government Hospital for the Insane is established
1861-1865: U.S. military physicians document the stresses of Civil War soldiers
1871: Jacob Mendez Da Costa publishes a study about ‘irritable heart’
1905: ‘Battle shock’ is regarded as a legitimate medical condition by the Russian Army
1917-1919: Distress of soldiers is attributed to ‘shell shock’ during WWI
1918: Smith and Pear advocate for the term ‘war strain’ and for treatment of soldiers’ emotional symptoms
1919: Freud’s colleagues publish a book about his theory of ‘war neurosis,’ and Freud writes the introduction
1920: Freud submits a memorandum about the rumored brutal treatment of psychologically wounded soldiers
1939-1945: Terminology changes to ‘combat exhaustion’ during WWII, and U.S. Army adopts the official slogan, “Every man has his breaking point”
1943: General George Patton slaps two soldiers who were recuperating in a military hospital, and is ultimately relieved of his duties
1945: U.S. Army creates a training video for unspecialized medical officers for the treatment of combat exhaustion, including administration of sodium pentothal and suggestive therapy
1946: The National Mental Health Act is passed, and provides for expansion of mental health facilities
1947: U.S. Army releases a documentary about causes and treatment of mental illness during WWII
1952: ‘Gross stress reaction’ is included in DSM-I
1953: Harold Wolff proposes a holistic model of stress based on an evolutionary model
1965: Each military battalion is provided with officers trained to treat psychological problems during the Vietnam war
1968: ‘Gross stress reaction’ is dropped from DSM-II
1969: Pettera, Johnson, and Zimmer conceptualize ‘Vietnam combat reaction’
1972: Chaim Shatan raises awareness of ‘post-Vietnam syndrome’ in the New York Times
1980: ‘Posttraumatic stress disorder’ is added to DSM-III
1987: DSM-III-Rdrops requirement that stressors be outside the range of normal human experience
1993: Pat Barker’s work of historical fiction, Regeneration, is released
2005: PBS FRONTLINE releases “The Soldier’s Heart” documentary
2008: Grey’s Anatomyintroduces a character with combat-related PTSD
2008: The major motion picture, Brothers, is released
According to an article by Gregg Zoroya, who wrote about the amount of money that is being spent on resreach for PTSD and TBI (traumatic brain injury) has significantly increased. The Pentagon is spending $300M for research in hope to find a cure and procedures in avoiding this disorder. In 2008, the Congress provided an extra $273.8 million to study battlefield injuries, some of which will also go toward researching PTSD and TBI.
~Money Spent on Military by the Government
~Screening of Soldiers After Returning from Duty
Soldiers who have returned from actigve duty get screened, which is a process where the individual goes to see a doctor, which helps the doctor determine if the person has symptoms or signs of PTSD. The screening was performed once a month for several months after their return, but in recent years doctors have found that completing a screening twice a month is more efficient.
~PTSD on Children
Children tend to experience PTSD from several different events that may occur in their life. They can be sexual or physical abuse or other violent crimes. Disasters such as floods, school shootings, car crashes, or fires. Depending on the age of the child the affects on the child are different.
*AGE (5-12)
This age group does not have a tendency of "re-living" the event, like adults would. Children tend to believe that the signs of the previous trauma will appear again, before another experience happens. People may notice signs of PTSD in a child's play. An example may be if the child wants to play a video game involving shooting because he\she exerienced a school shooting.
*AGE (12-18)
At this stage, teens are in between the symptoms that would occur through a chold or adult. One significant difference that this age group experiences that adults and children don't are that they show impulsive and aggressive behaviors.
~Children In Afghanistan.
Sohrab is believed to be one of many children in Afghanistan that has PTSD.
Children in Afghanistan are exposed to more violence and war, thus increasing the likelihood of developing PTSD.
A study was done by Dr. Claudia Catani, of the University of Bielefeld, in 2009 on school children. Out of a sample of 300 children, the study showed one in every four boys, and one in every six girls developed PTSD after experiencing a traumatic event.
Most of the children are then expected to work heavy labor jobs to support their families.
Boys in Afghanistan are more exposed to traumatic events. Events include:
Family disturbances
Long-term poverty
Child labor
Rape
War
Solutions that are being attempted to fix the rapid PTSD problem in Afghanistan include:
Better Education
Immediate metal health interventions
Funding for treatments
As of right now nothing is being done in Afghanistan.
Another study was done at Oxford University in 2012 on Afghan boys ages 13 through 18, stating that one-third of the children who arrive in the U.K. show symptoms of PTSD.
Study showed that Afghans are the highest asylum-seeking population in the U.K.
Children in foster care are less likely to show symptoms of PTSD because those children received more care from others.
~PTSD in Children Vs. Adults
PTSD in children and adults has many overlapping themes, but is also divided by key differences. Just like adults, children acqurie PTSD from witnessing an event that involves death, injury, or threat to physical integrity. In both adults and children, response to trauma entails fear, helplessness, and horror; however, children specifically always respond with disorganized or agitated behavior. Also, children often experience PTSD because of developmentally inappropriate sexual experience, like in the cases of the Kite Runner. The biggest difference in PTSD between children and adults, is that children do not feel as though they are reliving the past, as in the case of adults. Rather, children often show truama through reenacting it through repetitive play. For example, a child who is in a car crash may start to reenact that incident by crashing little toy cars into each other.
~Connections to Kite Runner
Three characters in Kite Runner have PTSD. Hassan spends years reclusively, locked in his own room. sleeping incessantly. He does not share what happened to him with anyone for a long period of time.
Amir is also traumatized by the rape of Hassan. However, as opposed to the physical abuse that Hassan encountered, Amir was traumatized by witnessing the event, as well as full of regret by his own inability to act on his best friend's behalf. Throughout the book images of blood stained snow flash into his mind. He also shows a change in behavior as he can no longer look at Hassan the same way.
The number one example of PTSD in Kite Runner is through Hassan's son, Sorhab. The boy is so traumatized by his sexual enslavement that he cannot live with the thought of being in an orphanage. Although he would be safe in an orphanage away from the Taliban, he affiliates the memory of sexual abuse with being in one. He attempts suicide. Afterwards, he spends half of a year silent, emotionless, seemingly dead: now not only traumatized by the abuse, but perhaps also his apparent willingness to just give up.
~Other Facts about PTSD
PTSD affects about 7.7 million American adults.
PTSD can occur at any age.
Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men, and there is some evidence that the potential for the disorder may run in families.
PTSD is often accompanied by depression, substance abuse, or other anxiety disorders.
Members of the military exposed to war/combat and other groups at high risk for trauma exposure are at risk for developing PTSD .
Among veterans returning from the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, PTSD and mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) are often linked and their symptoms may overlap. Blast waves from explosions can cause TBI, rattling the brain inside the skull.
Some estimates put the success rate for overcoming PTSD as high as 80 to 85%. The remaining 15% can also still find successful treatments, but may need to commit longer or look at other changes that can be integrated into their lifestyle that promote less anxiety.
THREE MAJOR POINTS FROM THE PRESENTATION:
PTSD results from a person who experiences a traumatic event and though there is no cure, treatments are available to prevent and relieve the factors of the disorder.
The three types of PTSD are re-experiencing, hyperarrousal, and avoidance.
PTSD has been around for hundreds of years and they are starting to research treatments for the disorder.
PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder): PTSD results from a person who experiences a traumatic event and though there is no cure, treatments are available to prevent and relieve the factors of the disorder.
What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?
What was it called before?
Shell-Shock
Battle/Combat Fatigue
Soldier's Heart
Gross Stress Reaction
Post-Vietnam Syndrome
~Different Types of PTSD
Reliving the event (“Re-experiencing”)
Avoidance
Hyperarousal
~How long does it take to present itself?
The symptoms of PTSD can start immediately or after a delay of weeks or months. They usually appear within 6 months of the traumatic event.
Causes and Factors of PTSD
PTSD can occur at any age. It can follow a natural disaster such as a flood or fire, or events such as:
Assault
Domestic abuse
Prison stay
Rape
Terrorism
War
For example, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 may have caused PTSD in some people who were involved, in people who saw the disaster, and in people who lost relatives and friends.
Veterans returning home from a war often have PTSD.
The cause of PTSD is unknown. Psychological, genetic, physical, and social factors are involved. PTSD changes the body's response to stress. It affects the stress hormones and chemicals that carry information between the nerves
It is not known why traumatic events cause PTSD in some people but not others. Having a history of trauma may increase your risk for getting PTSD after a recent traumatic event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ8pZVfcIjk
~Checklist For PTSD Symptoms
Brief checklist of trauma symptoms
Check the symptoms below that you experience. Include symptoms you have even if you are not sure they are related to a traumatic event.
I experienced or witnessed a traumatic event during which I felt extreme fear, helplessness, or horror.
The event happened on (day/month/year) _.
What happened? __.
http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/trauma-symptom-checklist.aspI have symptoms of re-experiencing or reliving the traumatic event:
Have bad dreams or nightmares about the event or something similar to it
Behave or feel as if the event were happening all over again (this is known as having flashbacks)
Have a lot of strong or intense feelings when I am reminded of the event
Have a lot of physical sensations when I am reminded of the event (for example, my heart races or pounds, I sweat, find it hard to breathe, feel faint, feel like I'm going to lose control)
I have symptoms of avoiding reminders of the traumatic event:
Avoid thoughts, feelings, or talking about things that remind me of the event
Avoid people, places, or activities that remind me of the event
Have trouble remembering some important part of the event
I have noticed these symptoms since the event happened:
Have lost interest in, or just don't do, things that used to be important to me
Feel detached from people; find it hard to trust people
Feel emotionally "numb" or find it hard to have loving feelings even toward those who are emotionally close to me
Have a hard time falling or staying asleep
Am irritable and have problems with my anger
Have a hard time focusing or concentrating
Think I may not live very long and feel there's no point in planning for the future
Am jumpy and get startled or surprised easily
Am always "on guard"
I experience these medical or emotional problems:
Stomach problems
Intestinal (bowel) problems
Gynecological (female) problems
Weight gain or loss
Pain, for example, in back, neck, or pelvic area
Headaches
Skin rashes and other skin problems
Lack of energy; feel tired all the time
Alcohol, drug, or other substance use problems
Depression or feeling down
Anxiety or worry
Panic attacks
What are the treatments for PTSD?
During WWI doctors called PTSD "shell shock" because they believed that soldiers were showing these symptoms as a result of exploding bombs. Many soldiers were ridiculed and called weak or cowards when they showed symptoms of PTSD. Some were even put on trial, charged and convicted of cowardice. The worst results were those shot by their own men because they thought they were cowards. When doctors saw that soldiers were suffering PTSD that had not been on the front lines, they realized it could not have been caused by exploding bombs. Doctors than tried hypnosis in order to cure PTSD.
In order to cure PTSD, a person must remember the feelings they had during the dramatic event and learn to accept them. Usually seeing a therapist helps to accept the feelings. Anti-depressant pills can be taken in order to help people feel less sad, however this will not cure the PTSD. There is no pill cure for PTSD. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ5v4YYafL4
~Treating PTSD (4 examples)
Traumafocused cognitive-behavioral therapy- carefully and gradually “exposing” yourself to thoughts, feelings, and situations that remind you of the trauma. Therapy also involves identifying upsetting thoughts about the traumatic event–particularly thoughts that are distorted and irrational—and replacing them with more balanced picture.
Family therapy- can help your loved ones understand what you’re going through. It can also help everyone in the family communicate better and work through relationship problems caused by PTSD symptoms.
Medication- Antidepresents such as Prozac and Zoloft are the medications most commonly used for PTSD. While antidepresents may help you feel less sad, worried, or on edge, they do not treat the causes of PTSD.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)- Eye movements and other bilateral forms of stimulation are thought to work by “unfreezing” the brain’s information processing system, which is interrupted in times of extreme stress.
~Medication for PTSD (Government Approved)
Sertraline (Zoloft)
Paroxetine (Paxil)
Fluoxetine (Prozac)
*Medications help a person regulate the responses of PTSD.
~Usage of Each Medicine
Sertraline (Zoloft) 50 mg to 200 mg daily
Paroxetine (Paxil) 20 to 60 mg daily
Fluoxetine (Prozac) 20 mg to 60 mg daily
New Information/Research on PTSD:
A lot done in past 10 years
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Scientists and researchers are looking for ways to prevent PTSD resulting from mental and physical findings
New medicines are being tested that could affect the most basic causes
Research done to specify the factors of PTSD to personalize treatments
Scientists are looking at the genes that create "fear memories," which can lead to advances in the prevention and treatment using
Using a magnetoencephalography(brain-imaging) to distinguish people with PTSD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK7GGiscs0g(0:20, 2:40)
Changing the bad memories to good memories: ART http://www.lvrj.com/news/las-vegas-based-research-team-working-on-new-ptsd-treatment-163516536.html
Actual experiments for PTSD can be found here: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/trials/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd.shtml
~PTSD Timeline
PTSD has been around for hundreds of years.
1678: Swiss Physicians identify ‘Nostalgia’
1700s: Dominique Jean Larrey describes the disorder as having three stages
1855: Government Hospital for the Insane is established
1861-1865: U.S. military physicians document the stresses of Civil War soldiers
1871: Jacob Mendez Da Costa publishes a study about ‘irritable heart’
1905: ‘Battle shock’ is regarded as a legitimate medical condition by the Russian Army
1917-1919: Distress of soldiers is attributed to ‘shell shock’ during WWI
1918: Smith and Pear advocate for the term ‘war strain’ and for treatment of soldiers’ emotional symptoms
1919: Freud’s colleagues publish a book about his theory of ‘war neurosis,’ and Freud writes the introduction
1920: Freud submits a memorandum about the rumored brutal treatment of psychologically wounded soldiers
1939-1945: Terminology changes to ‘combat exhaustion’ during WWII, and U.S. Army adopts the official slogan, “Every man has his breaking point”
1943: General George Patton slaps two soldiers who were recuperating in a military hospital, and is ultimately relieved of his duties
1945: U.S. Army creates a training video for unspecialized medical officers for the treatment of combat exhaustion, including administration of sodium pentothal and suggestive therapy
1946: The National Mental Health Act is passed, and provides for expansion of mental health facilities
1947: U.S. Army releases a documentary about causes and treatment of mental illness during WWII
1952: ‘Gross stress reaction’ is included in DSM-I
1953: Harold Wolff proposes a holistic model of stress based on an evolutionary model
1965: Each military battalion is provided with officers trained to treat psychological problems during the Vietnam war
1968: ‘Gross stress reaction’ is dropped from DSM-II
1969: Pettera, Johnson, and Zimmer conceptualize ‘Vietnam combat reaction’
1972: Chaim Shatan raises awareness of ‘post-Vietnam syndrome’ in the New York Times
1980: ‘Posttraumatic stress disorder’ is added to DSM-III
1987: DSM-III-Rdrops requirement that stressors be outside the range of normal human experience
1993: Pat Barker’s work of historical fiction, Regeneration, is released
2005: PBS FRONTLINE releases “The Soldier’s Heart” documentary
2008: Grey’s Anatomyintroduces a character with combat-related PTSD
2008: The major motion picture, Brothers, is released
2010: HBO releases “Wartorn 1861-2010″ documentary
~Money Spent on PTSD by the Government
According to an article by Gregg Zoroya, who wrote about the amount of money that is being spent on resreach for PTSD and TBI (traumatic brain injury) has significantly increased. The Pentagon is spending $300M for research in hope to find a cure and procedures in avoiding this disorder. In 2008, the Congress provided an extra $273.8 million to study battlefield injuries, some of which will also go toward researching PTSD and TBI.
~Money Spent on Military by the Government
~Screening of Soldiers After Returning from Duty
Soldiers who have returned from actigve duty get screened, which is a process where the individual goes to see a doctor, which helps the doctor determine if the person has symptoms or signs of PTSD. The screening was performed once a month for several months after their return, but in recent years doctors have found that completing a screening twice a month is more efficient.
~PTSD on Children
Children tend to experience PTSD from several different events that may occur in their life. They can be sexual or physical abuse or other violent crimes. Disasters such as floods, school shootings, car crashes, or fires. Depending on the age of the child the affects on the child are different.
*AGE (5-12)
This age group does not have a tendency of "re-living" the event, like adults would. Children tend to believe that the signs of the previous trauma will appear again, before another experience happens. People may notice signs of PTSD in a child's play. An example may be if the child wants to play a video game involving shooting because he\she exerienced a school shooting.
*AGE (12-18)
At this stage, teens are in between the symptoms that would occur through a chold or adult. One significant difference that this age group experiences that adults and children don't are that they show impulsive and aggressive behaviors.
~Children In Afghanistan.
Sohrab is believed to be one of many children in Afghanistan that has PTSD.
Children in Afghanistan are exposed to more violence and war, thus increasing the likelihood of developing PTSD.
A study was done by Dr. Claudia Catani, of the University of Bielefeld, in 2009 on school children. Out of a sample of 300 children, the study showed one in every four boys, and one in every six girls developed PTSD after experiencing a traumatic event.
Most of the children are then expected to work heavy labor jobs to support their families.
Boys in Afghanistan are more exposed to traumatic events. Events include:
Family disturbances
Long-term poverty
Child labor
Rape
War
Solutions that are being attempted to fix the rapid PTSD problem in Afghanistan include:
Better Education
Immediate metal health interventions
Funding for treatments
As of right now nothing is being done in Afghanistan.
Another study was done at Oxford University in 2012 on Afghan boys ages 13 through 18, stating that one-third of the children who arrive in the U.K. show symptoms of PTSD.
Study showed that Afghans are the highest asylum-seeking population in the U.K.
Children in foster care are less likely to show symptoms of PTSD because those children received more care from others.
~PTSD in Children Vs. Adults
PTSD in children and adults has many overlapping themes, but is also divided by key differences. Just like adults, children acqurie PTSD from witnessing an event that involves death, injury, or threat to physical integrity. In both adults and children, response to trauma entails fear, helplessness, and horror; however, children specifically always respond with disorganized or agitated behavior. Also, children often experience PTSD because of developmentally inappropriate sexual experience, like in the cases of the Kite Runner. The biggest difference in PTSD between children and adults, is that children do not feel as though they are reliving the past, as in the case of adults. Rather, children often show truama through reenacting it through repetitive play. For example, a child who is in a car crash may start to reenact that incident by crashing little toy cars into each other.
~Connections to Kite Runner
Three characters in Kite Runner have PTSD. Hassan spends years reclusively, locked in his own room. sleeping incessantly. He does not share what happened to him with anyone for a long period of time.
Amir is also traumatized by the rape of Hassan. However, as opposed to the physical abuse that Hassan encountered, Amir was traumatized by witnessing the event, as well as full of regret by his own inability to act on his best friend's behalf. Throughout the book images of blood stained snow flash into his mind. He also shows a change in behavior as he can no longer look at Hassan the same way.
The number one example of PTSD in Kite Runner is through Hassan's son, Sorhab. The boy is so traumatized by his sexual enslavement that he cannot live with the thought of being in an orphanage. Although he would be safe in an orphanage away from the Taliban, he affiliates the memory of sexual abuse with being in one. He attempts suicide. Afterwards, he spends half of a year silent, emotionless, seemingly dead: now not only traumatized by the abuse, but perhaps also his apparent willingness to just give up.
~Other Facts about PTSD
PTSD affects about 7.7 million American adults.
PTSD can occur at any age.
Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men, and there is some evidence that the potential for the disorder may run in families.
PTSD is often accompanied by depression, substance abuse, or other anxiety disorders.
Members of the military exposed to war/combat and other groups at high risk for trauma exposure are at risk for developing PTSD .
Among veterans returning from the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, PTSD and mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) are often linked and their symptoms may overlap. Blast waves from explosions can cause TBI, rattling the brain inside the skull.
Some estimates put the success rate for overcoming PTSD as high as 80 to 85%. The remaining 15% can also still find successful treatments, but may need to commit longer or look at other changes that can be integrated into their lifestyle that promote less anxiety.
THREE MAJOR POINTS FROM THE PRESENTATION:
PTSD results from a person who experiences a traumatic event and though there is no cure, treatments are available to prevent and relieve the factors of the disorder.
The three types of PTSD are re-experiencing, hyperarrousal, and avoidance.
PTSD has been around for hundreds of years and they are starting to research treatments for the disorder.
Sites Used:
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http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/pages/clinicians-guide-to-medications-for-ptsd.asp
http://www.bridgestorecovery.com/ptsd-residential-treatment-center/
http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/expertadvice/problems/ptsd/posttraumaticstressdisorder.aspx
http://www.calmclinic.com/ptsd
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http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-research-fact-sheet/index.shtml#next_steps
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/extra/series-1/shell_shocked.shtml
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Depression/story?id=3860975&page=1
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090623112106.htm
http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2012/121018.html